Journal entry - Shobak Castle

 We were heading towards Petra town now, and stopped for lunch (all organized as a pit-stop for the regular tours) - choice of food was buffet or sandwich.  I opted for sandwich, which was cooked lightly spiced chicken in a grilled thick pitta, accompanied by chips and a lovely fresh salad.  Then on to Shobak Castle - a Crusader castle in a wild and remote landscape, dating from 1115, when it was built by Crusader King Baldwin I.  It sat imposingly in the arid winter landscape.

What an amazing situation.   It withheld an 18 month siege in 1189, and defended numerous attacks from Saladin. There is apparently a secret passageway (375 steps down) and you need a torch and good nerves for tight spaces, which leads to a subterranean spring.  Just like our lovely Carreg Cennen castle back in Wales (near Llandeilo).

Goats (always Anglo-Nubian) finding something to eat on the seemingly-bare slopes.

Basically, this had been a pile of rubble for a good long while, but was being rebuilt (obviously for tourists).  Even so, it was a building site and Health and Safety would have had 40 blue fits! There were sheer drops, half finished pathways and uneven steps and. . .

This was one of the Crusader Castles that Lawrence of Arabia visited and wrote about in his Dissertation (he was at Oxford).

. . . a large hole in one ceiling had been blocked with large stones jammed together.

Gabby with the Castle Cat.

As you can see, the rebuilding was a bit haphazard and would not have passed the exacting standards the likes of the National Trust have in place.  I think this is the reconstructed Mamluk watchtower.

Then on to Petra town and a 5 star hotel (other one was only 4 star).  We had a good room and lovely food.  The restaurant was upstairs, to take advantage of the lovely view across the town and towards the Petra mountains.  It was a "dry" hotel (no alcohol served or allowed in rooms), so some desperate souls went in search of the Cave Bar, near the entrance to Petra.  We had a lovely view of the sunset over the Petra mountains, and all the lights on in the town.

St George and the Dragon in Madaba

It was amazing to see St George and the Dragon - such a familiarly British emblem - at St George's church in Madaba.  The church here is Greek Orthodox.  St George was originally Turkish - born in Cappadonia into a "noble Christian family" - and joined the Roman army aged 17.  He worked his way through the ranks and rose to be a member of the Praetorian Guard for Emperor Diocletion.

However, he refused to disavow his Christian faith, and protested against the murder of Christians by the Romans, and as a result was tortured and done to death in Palestine in 303 AD.  He is associated with the British ideals of honour, bravery and gallantry.  St George's Day is celebrated on 23rd April.

 

This map was entirely made from tiny pieces of mosaic (and indeed, mosaic making is still very much a part of Jordanian life, as we found when we visited a mosaic making factory.) This was discovered in 1884 and is the largest mosaic map in the world, having been made around 560 AD. It was originally built into a Byzantine church. This representation was in the visitor centre.

It looks like a painted fresco is being repaired.

Above and below, sections of the ancient mosaic.

Below: another Fresco.

We visited the mosaic factory.  Some of the works were very complicated patterns.

A table with one of the decorated plates that were for sale.

Some of the amazing mosaic pictures on offer.  I was interested in the Tree of Life ones on the bottom - I think those were 150 Jordanian Dinars.  She showed me a square one (500 JD)!  Then she would NOT leave us alone but followed us around the shop, trying to get a sale.  Hate that.

This one was based on the Mosaic floor at Mount Nebo.

Another Tree of Life with Peacocks.

More beautiful decorated plates.

There's posh!!  A wee bit OTT for me but beautifully done; same comment for below too.

Lord knows how much these chairs were.  Someone was looking at a carpet, and was quoted a price of 22,000 JD!!

I couldn't resist taking photos of these antique weapons - Keith used to have similar ones on his side of things at Fairs.

Sundry items . . .

Today I have been tidying up in the garden, planted some Monarda seeds (Bee Balm), cleared a bit more moss from the stone chippings in the yard, and a little area of the cobbles, and I started edging the little square lawn.  APITA though as the edger doesn't really cut through the moss.  I will retrieve my sharp spade from Tam tomorrow. I pruned half a dozen roses, and did some weeding.  Slow progress.

Then I was tired and slept for 2 hours on the sofa, covered in cats.  My neighbour came round for a natter, which made a nice change.   

Now I'm listening to the evening chorus as the light fades.  It's good to have the lighter evenings stretching out, and we saw Swifts and Swallows on the wing when we were at Jerash - so heart-lifting to know they are on their way.

First journal entries

 21st February 2025

As our route was taking us through my family area of Northamptonshire (mum's Battams side of the family hailed from there),we visited Shutlanger and Stoke Bruerne. Shutlanger is tiny - one pub (the Plough) and a tiny High Street set back from the main road.  The equally tiny church is now the village hall- no burials that I could see.

Down the lane, we reached Stoke Bruerne, set along the canal - would have loved to explore that properly if we had more time.  The church was locked and only one Battams burial, on the War Memorial - Sergt. A C Battams, 6th Northants Regiment.  

On to the Premier Inn near St Albans.  Comfy bed, but couldn't eat there (restaurant shut)and the Harvester next door was fully booked.  We went 3 miles up the road to the Spotted Dog at Flamstead, and I had Scampi and Chips, and Gabs chose the Game Stew and chips, and we shared a bottle of Pino Grigio (taking half of it back to our room).  I spotted a "Beware Toads" sign on the verge as we went to the pub. Gabby didn't believe me, but on the way back there were people in high viz jackets with yellow plastic buckets, helping the little chaps across! 

Sunday 23rd February 2025

We had be up early to the airport, but not on plane that early as it took ages to get everyone to their seats  - very haphazard planning there.  The airport was very busy and Cosmopolitan - we were next to a queue of Very Orthodox Jews with HUGE amounts of luggage.

We had breakfast there, but I was amazed to see chaps and partners downing a full English breakfast washed down with a pint of lager!!

It was a 5 hour flight - I was more than ready to run up and down the plane after just an hour!  Gabs had booked a window seat for me - downside of that is view nearly clouds all the way and the person on the aisle seat had to move if we wanted the loo, so I didn't drink much. No real views beneath us until we reached Greece.

The hotel in Amman . . . looked like they hadn't been ready for us as there were no towels, and when Gabby did chase some up, we were given some the size of small hand towels ...  The queensize bed (Gabby had booked a double room as no option for twin) had inadequate covers - a long thin duvet that would either cover your feet (but not your top half) or your top half with your feet sticking out the end! We had to use coats on the bed and Gabby wrapped her top half in her big woollen scarf.  The walls were paper thin and there was a loud couple with a noisy baby in the next room.  Sleep was at a premium.  Evening meal had lovely salads, rice and some nice meat stews.

And so it begins.

This was the Dr's house, opposite our hotel.  Obviously in private practice . . .

Juggling photos

 Well, I have been struggling today with the photos.  I need to move lots across to the new external hard drive, which arrived this afternoon (along with a copy of the Lawrence of Arabia DVD I treated myself to).  Nothing, absolutely NOTHING is in order and although I've deleted about 150, the same ones still seem to appear amongst the photos I'm going through.  You will have to be patient.

I am glad that I kept a journal whilst we were away, or I will be even more puzzled as to what is where in the photographs.  

Anyway, we even did a little family history research on the way, as our route took us through Northamptonshire, so we drove round the tiny village of Shutlanger, where many of my mum's Battams ancestors lived and died.  The little church was now a Village Hall and no obvious burials.  We walked around Stoke Bruerne churchyard, and only found one Battams burial, from the 2nd World War. Will have to do some research to find out where they were "planted."

We had a good flight out but after 2 hours I just wanted to run up and down the plane - I'm not good at sitting still for long periods, and am usually active.  The hotel seemed a little unprepared when we got there, as there were no towels in our room and when we asked for them, we were given small hand-towel sized towels!  We had to share the bed (no option to upgrade to twin then) and the duvet was long and thin - either our feet could be covered, or our top halves, but not both!  We put my coat across and Gabby used her broad woollen scarf over her top half!

Next morning we went to Madaba and walked through the town to St George's Church, which had an ancient mosaic, many parts were defaced though, due to Iconoclasts deliberately damaging anything they found offensive (certain animals for example, like lions).  This is the original St George of St George and the Dragon and I took a photo of the big painting of him slaughtering it, but that hasn't turned up yet!

The landscape looked rather bleak, but then it IS desert.  We were surprised to return to Amman after a couple of days at Petra and Wadi Rum and find grass had grown.

Gabby taking a photo of the fabulous view - the Canaan of Biblical Times.

The views were incredible.

Inside the rebuilt church were fabulous mosaics, and indeed this area is still famed for its mosaic work today.

This one amazingly survived because it was buried before the Iconoclasts got there.

One of the carvings from the original church.

Right, all for today.  Tired now and need a bath and some rest.  I treated myself to the DVD of Lawrence of Arabia - part of that (towards the end) was filmed at Wadi Rum.

I hope to sort the photos out tomorrow anyway.